The number of cars and commercial vehicles financed or leased by Daimler Financial Services reached a new all-time high of more than 3.7 million at the end of 2015. New business and contract volume also rose sharply, and the combination of sales financing and brokered automotive insurance policies gained in importance as well. During the year under review, we also further expanded our range of innovative mobility solutions.

Nearly half of all delivered vehicles are financed or leased by Daimler Financial Services

During the year under review, Daimler Financial Services concluded 1.5 million new financing and leasing contracts worth a total of €57.9 billion. The total value of all new contracts rose by 21 % compared with the prior year. As a result, the sales and leasing activities at Daimler Financial Services supported approximately half of all new-vehicle sales by our automotive divisions in 2015. More than 3.7 million financed or leased vehicles were on the books at the end of 2015; this corresponds to an 18 % increase in contract volume to €116.7 billion. Adjusted for exchange-rate effects, the increase amounted to 14 %. EBIT rose to a new high of €1,619 million (2014: €1,387 million). (See table C.09)

C.09 Daimler Financial Services

2015

2014

15/14

Amounts in millions of euros

% change

EBIT

1,619

1,387

+17

Revenue

18,962

15,991

+19

New business

57,891

47,912

+21

Contract volume

116,727

98,967

+18

Investment in property, plant and equipment

30

23

+30

Employees (December 31)

9,975

8,878

+12

New business in Europe increases

During the year under review, Daimler Financial Services concluded 766,399 new financing and leasing contracts worth €24.6 billion (+14 %) in the Europe region. Particularly high rates of growth were recorded in Spain (+43 %) and Italy (+30 %). In Germany, Mercedes-Benz Bank’s new business increased by 8 % to €10.7 billion; the volume of deposits in the direct banking business totaled €10.4 billion (-3 %). In order to further expand its market presence, Daimler Financial Services acquired Welcome Bank GmbH in Austria, which was previously part of Wiesenthal Autohandels AG. Welcome Bank GmbH has been operating in Austria as Mercedes-Benz Bank GmbH since the end of October 2015. During the year under review, Daimler Financial Services’ contract volume in Europe rose by 13 % to €45.6 billion.

Continued expansion in North America

Daimler Financial Services was able to record an increase over the high level of new business of the previous year also in the Americas region, where the company brokered 456,365 new financing and leasing contracts worth €22.0 billion in 2015 (+21 %). The decrease in new business in Brazil that resulted from the difficult economic situation in the country was offset by significant gains in the United States (+28 %) and Mexico (+31 %), leading to an overall increase in contract volume in the Americas of 18 % to €50.8 billion.

Increase in new business in Africa & Asia-Pacific region

New business in the Africa & Asia-Pacific region increased over the previous year by 39 % to €11.3 billion. Business development was especially strong in India (+91 %), China (+66 %) and South Korea (+53 %). With a contract volume of €6.9 billion, China became the fourth-largest market for Daimler Financial Services in the year under review. At the end of 2015, contract volume in the Africa & Asia-Pacific region totaled €20.2 billion, which corresponds to a 32 % increase over the previous year.

Growth in the insurance business

During the year under review, Daimler Financial Services brokered 1.8 million insurance policies – an increase of 25 % compared with the prior year. Our insurance business continued to be particularly successful in China, where an average of 75 % of Daimler vehicles were delivered with an insurance policy brokered by us.

Mobility services expanded further

Daimler Financial Services offers a broad range of innovative mobility solutions. During the year under review, the division also further expanded its services in this area. The number of customers using the car2go car-sharing system increased to 1.2 million in 2015, thereby enabling car2go to maintain its position as the world’s leading car-sharing company. car2go was also launched in Turin and Madrid in 2015; at the end of the year, the Group-owned company was operating at 31 locations. We also further developed our moovel app in 2015, which allows customers in Germany to compare various mobility and transport-mode options and then choose the best way to get from point A to point B. The app can also be used to book and directly pay for services provided by companies such as car2go, Flinkster, mytaxi and the Deutsche Bahn railway company. In the fourth quarter of 2015, moovel in Stuttgart became the first provider to allow users to book and pay for online tickets for journeys by a public transport operator. RideScout in North America, which is also a Daimler company, acquired the US startup GlobeSherpa at the end of the second quarter of 2015. GlobeSherpa is an upcoming US provider in the field of mobile ticketing and is currently present in San Francisco, Portland, Chicago and several other cities. The mytaxi app allows customers to locate, book and pay for a taxi using their smartphones. The app’s great popularity led to its launch in Milan, Seville, Valencia, Krakow and Lisbon during the year under review. mytaxi was thus in use in 40 cities at the end of 2015. Daimler also has an equity interest in MeinFernbus FlixBus GmbH and in the Blacklane professional driver service.

car2go: Do more. Without having to own more.

Fleet business expanded

In 2015, Daimler Financial Services once again supported its fleet customers with the financing and management of their vehicles and fleets. Daimler Fleet Management concluded a total of 152,000 new contracts with commercial clients in 2015, representing an increase of 9 % over the previous year. A total of 310,000 contracts were on the books in Europe at the end of December 2015 – an increase of 1.5 % over the previous year. The demand for comprehensive mobility concepts for use with company fleets increased during the year under review, and fleet services for smaller companies with less than 50 vehicles were also expanded.

Focus on customer and employee satisfaction

Customer and employee satisfaction is a top priority at Daimler Financial Services. In 2015, independent surveys once again showed that we are a leader in numerous countries with regard to customers’ and dealers’ assessments of our service quality. In the United States, for example, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services finished top in three categories of a J. D. Power study of dealer satisfaction, whereby more than two thirds of the dealers surveyed reported that they planned to further increase the share of business they conduct with Mercedes-Benz Financial Services USA due to the exceptional customer focus of the company’s sales staff. During the year under review, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services was once again named the most popular partner for auto dealerships also in the UK.

The foundation of these and other successes is formed by our highly motivated employees, nine out of ten of whom stated in the independent Great Place to Work Institute global survey that Daimler Financial Services is a great employer.

Toll Collect system successfully expanded

The automatic system for truck-toll collection on German autobahns and selected federal highways continued to operate smoothly and reliably in 2015. The system recorded a total of 29.7 billion kilometers driven. Daimler Financial Services holds a 45 % equity interest in the Toll Collect consortium. On July 1, 2015, the Toll Collect system was expanded to cover additional federal highways in Germany, and on October 1 it was extended to include trucks with a gross vehicle weight of 7.5 metric tons and above. The Federal Republic of Germany has collected a total of €44 billion in tolls since Toll Collect went into operation at the beginning of 2005.